HILO, Hawai'i — Steve Sakoda made people laugh, but also was a man to be taken seriously.

Before joining the military, he liked wild haircuts and would dance with whacky abandon because he didn't care what people thought of him. He once used an ink marker to sketch a bikini top on his chest before heading out to paddle with the Keaukaha Canoe Club in Hilo.

Sakoda earned a black belt in karate and deliberately sought out infantry combat duty in Iraq. His work as a cavalry scout with the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) took him "outside the wire" and into danger day after day.

On Saturday, Sakoda, 29, was killed by a bomb that detonated near his vehicle in a convoy in Baghdad. He was the 15th service member who considered Hawai'i his home state to die in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait since military operations began.

At least 129 other service personnel with Hawai'i ties — including 43 Army personnel — have been killed in those countries.

"Steve loved his home, his friends and family. He always wanted to return home to Hawai'i and live his life surfing, paddling, fishing, acting, partying and loving those dear to him," his wife, Michelle, said in a written statement released yesterday in Hilo. "Everyone who has met him has been touched by his generous heart."

Sakoda grew up in a well-kept, close-knit Hilo neighborhood in Waiakea. He was the youngest of two children of the late Stephen and Keiko Sakoda. His dad was a Big Isle police sergeant.

Longtime friend Jeremy Hough, 27, recalled surfing and fishing with his Waiakea High School classmate. "He was a really good friend. I could count on him for anything," Hough said.

After graduating in 1994, Sakoda joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and served as a warehouse clerk at Kane'ohe Marine Corps Air Station. He enrolled at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo and earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 2002.

Sakoda was discharged from the Marine Reserve that same year, but in 2003 signed up with the Army National Guard in Hilo as a radio operator for the headquarters company scout platoon of the 2nd Battalion 299th Infantry.

Staff Sgt. Ha Chi worked with Sakoda in Hilo, and remembers him as a reliable soldier who learned quickly and liked the tough challenges of serving with a scout unit.

"You could tell he was one of those guys; he will do his duty, he's not going to shirk his duty because it's dangerous or anything else," Chi said. "It's what you sign up to do, and you've got to do it."

After only a year with the Army National Guard, Sakoda signed up for active duty as a calvary scout, and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Ky. He married Michelle Vallente Castillo of Honoka'a in 2004.

Michelle Sakoda said her husband felt "the need to do more for his military comrades, the country and his family."

Chi said Sakoda deliberately shifted to active duty to get combat experience, with a long-range plan of returning to the Army National Guard as an officer.

When he learned his old Hawai'i Guard unit was being activated to go to Iraq before his unit in the 101st, Sakoda asked for a transfer back to the Guard unit so he could go with them, Chi said. The Army refused.

Sakoda was promoted to sergeant last year, and on Oct. 1 he was sent to Iraq. His wife returned to the Big Island, working as a registered nurse at Hilo Medical Center.

Chi said he ran into Sakoda in Balad, Iraq, last summer and pointed out the tent where Sakoda's old Guard scout platoon was staying. At 2 a.m., Sakoda visited the tent, sneaking up on each soldier as they slept and waking them. "Everybody was happy to see him," Chi said.

The soldiers exchanged what they had learned and talked about what they had seen. Sakoda seemed confident and professional, he said.

Michelle Sakoda said her husband "would always be a Hilo boy, no matter where he went."

"His dedication to the military and his aloha to everyone is genuine. He will be remembered as the Hilo boy who lived his dream and did what he felt was right," she said.

"Steve wouldn't want to see those who cared for him to have a heavy heart and shed so many tears. He would like them to smile and remember the life he lived and what a wonderful person he was."

Sakoda also is survived by his older sister, Stella Yuki Sakoda Hottendorf.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.